I had the pleasure of attending Ginny Weisz's campaign kickoff "press conference" today in Salem. I put press conference in quotes because the only press was 1 TV station, 1 newspaper reporter and a blogger. I counted 10 supporters. Conspicuous by their absence were Gwen Mason, Dickie Cranwell, Ward Armstrong, the Farm Team, D candidates for County Board of Supervisors and the rest of the folks you'd expect to be supporting her.
Frankly, I was stunned by what I heard. For her prepared remarks, she just quietly read from notes for a few minutes. Nothing newsworthy. It was while being questioned afterwards that the real gems came out.
She was asked "what will you provide the voters in the 8th District that they aren't already getting?" Her answer? I just started running last week so I'm not really sure.
She was asked "why would voters give up the House Majority Leader for a first time Delegate?" Her answer? I just started running last week and our organization isn't in place yet.
She was asked "why should voters in the 8th support you?" Her answer? I've lived here "between 20 and 25 years." (Interestingly, she wouldn't answer where she was from and apparently doesn't realize that if length of residency matters she loses badly to Morgan Griffith's 50 years).
She was asked where she stood on the Marshall-Newman Amendment. Her answer? I'm sorry, I'm new at this and I'm not familiar with that. When she was told it was the Marriage Amendment - the single biggest ballot initiative in recent memory - she said she hadn't thought about it.
I'll give her credit though, she did say a couple things. She said she wants to bring "National Democratic trends to the 8th District." She supports expanding government health care. She supports the Pelosi/Reid/Obama stimulus package. She acknowledged she's a liberal on social issues but quickly pointed out she's a gun owner - as if that cures all sins.
It was also incredibly awkward when she was asked why she was running and she said it was actually a bad time for her because of her dissertation being due. Then why are you running?
Folks, it was her first time out but it wasn't pretty. I look forward to seeing what we get from her over the next few months. To the Rs out there, don't take this as a sign that we can sleepwalk through this race. Take offense at the Ds' audacity in running a "not ready for prime time" candidate and let's aim high for Morgan and our statewide ticket.
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7 comments:
Thank you for posting this, I needed a good laugh! I am hoping she will be the gift that keeps on giving.
Ginny and Gwen what a team the Dems have put together.
I hope to see them together a lot as clearly they were both selected because they are similar candidates.
Did she use her Reiki powers to levitate?
10 bucks says that the Roanoke Times will still endorse her.
She's clearly a ploy set fort by the Democrats to keep Morgan from helping too much in the 17th. That doesn't make her any less hilarious though!
This is something else....what in the world are the 'dems' trying to accomplish here...weak, weak candidates for sure...
also the local dems have put on "their team'' to run, 2 other inexperienced candidates for the Hollins, and Windsor Hills Board of Supervisors positions....
Maybe they need to back up, and kick, for this November elections!
I would love to see a post on the great candidate that Griffeth has recruited to run against Ward Armstrong.
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